Royal Affliction (The Anti-Princess Saga) (5 page)

I stared at him, taking in his soft, yet strong features.  His jaw had a feminine curve to it, and there was a slight dimple in his chin that I hadn’t noticed before.

As I stared, I felt his grip tighten before he pulled me even closer, so that there was no air between our bodies.  “Why are you staring at me?” he asked, smiling but not yet opening his eyes.

“Just admiring my handsome man.”  I cuddled against his warmth, not caring if I ever moved again.

He opened his beautiful green eyes and stared into mine.  “Never leave me?”  There was an almost plea to his words.

“Never,” I said with a reassuring smile and placed a delicate kiss on his forehead.  I had found something great with this man that I had never had before.  I was his home now, and he was mine.

His eyes fell to my bare breasts and he frowned, eyeing the puncture marks left by the jerk I’d encountered the previous night.  “What happened there?”

I’d forgotten.  “I was attacked by a Boru,” I said, distracted while tracing the wound with my fingers tips.  It should have healed by now but the marks felt as deep as they had the previous night. 
Was the ring affecting me in more ways than I knew?

Clifton sat straight up.  “WHAT?!”

I told him what had happened, about the Boru and the anklet I now wore which took away my strength and my power, leaving me as good as human.  His eyes never left mine as I spoke.  I couldn’t tell what he was thinking, but I wished that I could because his face was stiff and expressionless.  Suddenly, his eyes filled with rage and his pupils transitioned into diamonds while turning the color of blood.  Though emerald stayed in his irises, it was overshadowed by the evilness that now filled them.

I couldn’t bear to look at him so I looked away, focusing my eyes instead on a painting hanging on my bedroom wall. 
I guess he’s more Boru than he looks.
  I tried not to think about what other qualities that he might have on that side of him.

If my father knew what Clifton was, he would be as good as dead.  Not because he was mixed, but because he was mixed with something that my father would not tolerate under any circumstances.  But we weren’t in Kortis now, so that wasn’t an issue.  The only thing that mattered was if
I
was okay with it.  I was.

“I’ll be right back.”  He’d said it calm but his eyes were still full of fury.   He started to get up and I knew what he was going to do, but I couldn’t let him do it.  He couldn’t leave me now.

“Don’t you dare try to find him, you’ll get yourself killed.  If they don’t know of your mixed-blood existence yet, don’t go find them and expose yourself.  I want you to promise me that you’re not going to go after him.”

His anger didn’t fade, but he nodded.  “I promise not to hunt this Boru down.  But if I ever come across him, I
will
kill him.”

I couldn’t deny him the chance to kill the one who had hurt me, that is if we ever just happened to run into him.  Unlikely.  I nodded.

“Do you have to work today?” he asked, his eyes transitioning back to their normal hue.  I was thankful, his Boru eyes unnerved me.

“No, I have the next couple of days off.  It’s my weekend.”

We had two whole days to spend together, to do whatever we wanted.  I wanted to learn more about this man that I had connected with so easily.  The man that I swore I’d never let myself fall for.  Circumstances change.

“Go pack an overnight bag and meet me at my car.”  I hopped off the bed and headed for my closet before he had a chance to respond.  I slipped my ring back on and felt my appearance change back to my human mask (kind of a tingling, cooling sensation
).  I heard the door close as I was deciding what to wear.

It was nice to be excited about something for a change.  All I ever did was work.  I hadn’t felt like this since…well, I couldn’t remember the last time that I’d felt like this.

Clifton was leaning casually against my Prius, and he also had his human mask back on.  I wished that I could change my appearance at will like he could, but that wasn’t possible…
bummer.

He looked very handsome standing there with the sun reflecting off his faux-tan skin and dark-blonde hair.  His arms were folded across against his chest and a small bag was packed at his feet.

He grabbed me with those muscular arms, pulling me into a gentle embrace, and I clung to him, feeling so safe in his caring arms.

“Where are we going?”

“To my favorite escape.  I hope you don’t mind, but I like to sing along with the radio.”

“I guess that depends on whether you can sing or not.”

I just laughed.   I couldn’t carry a tune to save my life, but I wasn’t going to tell him that.  He would find out for himself soon enough.

I wondered why I had denied his advances for so long.  I couldn’t help but think of what our lives would be like now if I’d given into him on that first day.  I wasn’t going to ruin this with over-thinking.  I just embraced the fact that I was happy with a kindred spirit.  Whatever was going to happen would happen, and we would face it together when it did.

It was a beautiful spring day.  There were few clouds in the sky, yet there was a nice breeze that made the air, not hot, but pleasant.  It was so nice that I kept the windows down until we hit the freeway.

Clifton and I talked for some time.  About how he worked for the apartment complex, fixing things so that he didn’t have to pay rent.  About how he worked part-time as a carpenter, taking side jobs to help make ends meet.  He didn’t talk about his childhood and I didn’t pry.  I knew that he would tell me if he wanted to.  When we weren’t talking, I sang along with the radio and Clifton even joined in.  He was just as tone-deaf as I was.  We laughed at each other, both of us trying to out-sing the other.  It was the most fun I’d had in years.

We stopped at a drive thru to grab some food and then parked in the shade so I could eat before getting back on the road.  I wolfed down my burger in three bites, but Clifton watched me slurp down my soda as if I hadn’t drunk anything in days before commenting.

“I’m glad to see how ladylike you are.”

“Sorry,” I said, wiping the large quantity of barbeque sauce from my mouth.  “I was very hungry.”

“Why won’t you tell me where we’re going?” he asked for about the tenth time.  My only reply was a protruded tongue.

Soon I turned off the freeway and drove along the quaint streets.  The surroundings were familiar and welcoming.  I rolled down the windows to smell the salt and feel the spray of the ocean on my face.

“Where are we?” Clifton asked as he stuck his head out the window, looking like an excited dog on a car ride.  “It feels like where I should be.”

“That’s the Zolera in you talking,” I said, stifling a laugh.  “We’re partial to the sea.”

He sucked his head back in.  “Why don’t you live here?”

“Are you saying that you don’t want me to live right above you?”  He smiled.  “This is Monterey, my getaway spot.  Have you ever been?”

“No, I’ve been in Folsom since I was in foster care, and I’ve never ventured too far from that area.  Where did you find out about this place?” he asked, clearly trying to get off the subject of his life.

“I like to go for drives.  That used to be my old escape from the monotony of daily life.  One day, my old bug broke down near here, and I stayed for an entire week just lying on the beach and enjoying myself before forcing myself to go back.  Some days I think of moving here, but the idea just never stuck.”

We’d reached our destination so I pulled over on the side of the road.  “Come on, I want to show you something.”

I breathed in deep.  This was the closest place I’d found that reminded me of my home so far.  But I hadn’t been to too many places on the earthly plain yet.  I’d pretty much just stayed where my portal had taken me.

And down the grassy hill we went, following a somewhat worn dirt trail for a ways, walking through the brush and ducking under low lying branches along the way.  At last we came into a beach clearing.

There were massive rocks on one side closest to the car, blocking us from anywhere but the ocean.  The sun had just begun to set, casting a number of delightful colors into the sky.  There was a bright and vivid purple at the highest point, followed by a crimson red, and a brilliant orange where the sun hit the water.  The view took my breath away.  I loved this place at sunset.

Clifton was also gazing out at the beautiful scene, but turned back to me when he felt me looking at him.  “I get it.”

I spread out the large towel I’d brought in the sand and laid down before calling Clifton over.  He lay down next to me, putting both of his hands behind his head to maintain his view.  My head felt so comfortable on his chest, my leg resting on top of his as I my fingers wandered around his abdomen.  And together, we watched the sun sink lower and lower in the sky, until just a sliver of the glowing orb was visible above the reflective water.

“I couldn’t dream of a more perfect place,” he whispered, not taking his eyes off of the scene.  He placed one of his hands on my leg to let me know that he was thinking of me.

“Then you should see Kortis, the world where our kind was born.”

When the sun had disappeared beyond our sight, leaving nothing but the red-purple sky behind, did he turn his eyes to me.  “What is Kortis like?”

“Beautiful, though I am from the south territory, so that’s all I’ve seen, but I hear that the other regions are much different from mine.”  I paused to look around.  “Monterey kind of reminds me of that part of Kortis I called home.  There is a vast ocean, but the water is a crystal-clear blue, nothing at all like the murky water here.  Almost my entire territory is sand and an endless sea.  Many Zolera live in that ocean, as we are creatures of water, and most of us can shift into water mammals or fish.”

He held up a hand for me to stop.  “You can change into a…fish?” he asked skeptically and a bit mockingly.

“I personally can shift into a black dolphin.”  My words left him with a very comical expression and I suppressed a giggle.

“Can I see?”

“You don’t believe me?”

“Just curious.”

I pulled my shirt over my head, and slid my pants off.   When I started unhooking my bra I noticed that Clifton was looking a little confused.  “My clothes will get ruined if I keep them on,” I said, slipping out of my underwear.  I was now quite exposed to the world, but I didn’t feel awkward.  Clifton was the only one that could see me, and his gaze was so intense it made me feel sexy with no reason to be ashamed.

My skin welcomed the frostiness of the ocean as it worked its way up my legs.  I waded in deeper, until the chilly water reached my navel, before I called from within me that which made me whole, my essence.  I felt the change start, but it faded away with the cool breeze following a hot, stinging sensation in my lower leg.

When I turned around, Clifton was standing behind me in the cold water.  “I can’t change my form,” I whispered.  “The anklet won’t let me.”

He moved in closer, wrapping one of his arms around my lower back, his fingers caressing my skin so lightly.  I closed the remaining distance between us.  His body felt so warm compared to the frigid water and I enjoyed the contrast.  “We will have to find a way to get that thing off,” he whispered, then brushed my cheek with his own.  I kissed him on his full, soft lips and ran my hands gently over his smooth, flawless back.  He bent down and scooped me up in a cradling position.

He carried me out of the ocean and laid me down on the towel, only then did he break free from my lips.  Propping himself up on his sturdy arms, he towered over me, his long, dark blonde hair brushing against my cheeks as he gazed into my eyes.  He laid a trail of kisses up my neck, across my face and back to my lips.

Just the feeling of the two of us together was true contentment.  I stared up into his eyes and placed my hand on his cheek.  We shared no words.  We didn’t need to.  We said everything we needed with our eyes, our touch, our lips.  Nothing else mattered.

“Ahem…I apologize if I am interrupting.”

Chapter Three

The voice startled me and I jumped, smacking right into Clifton’s nose in the process.  I was too perturbed to apologize.  There was a man standing in the ocean and though it was too dark to see him clearly, his voice sounded unsettlingly familiar.  Clifton rolled off of me and I threw my clothes on while praying that this man was not who my mind said he was.

I took a step in his direction, but Clifton put his arm up to stop me.  “Do you know him?” he asked, staring at the strange man who seemed to have just appeared out of thin air.

“I, I think so, but I need to see him better to be sure,” I replied while chanting “don’t be him, don’t be him” in my head.

As I got closer the moonlight hit the man in just the right way, showing me the color of his dark, cobalt skin.  My heart sank.  Yes, I knew this man, but I also resented him.  If I had stayed in Kortis, he would have been my husband.  The man staring at me now was the main reason for my departure, and a cruel reminder of my previous life.  Clifton didn’t need to know.